so, what were the general thoughts...

Panthers | Sitting Out - posted at KFFL (http://nfl.kffl.com)
August 13, 2002 1143 PT Carolina Panthers coach John Fox told Panthers.com WR Anthony Bright (calf strain) sat out Tuesday's morning practice session.

 

Touche. He's back in now, though, from Panthers.com:

On wide receiver Anthony Bright: He played very well. That’s what you are ultimately evaluated on, how you play in games. He got a little calf injury yesterday and missed a little time. He is back out here today, which I was happy to see. We are looking for consistent performers, if they can do it more than one game in a row, and we will find that out this Saturday.


The dude's like my size. He never played college ball. You have to pull for him.

 

my apologies meat. i do remember ya raving very early on in a minicamp report (maybe the first) about foster and how he was the stud. but i also remember, though not you, a couple of posts, or maybe the observer ... though it doesn't sound like them, saying smith looked like a "bad-ass" and was running very strong in camp.

wasn't trying to pin anyone down on their observations. am simply concerned about OL and wanted to know what the thoughts were of the non-casual fans that were able to catch the game. i thought our OL was woeful in short yardage situations last year and have been surprised to read so many sources saying this preseason that our OL is an area of strength. i know DT, WR and CB's are sources of concern but I have been thinking that we need to take a couple of young studs for that OL in the early rounds in next year's draft and then look to get a WR (or maybe a couple) and CB in the middle rounds.

guess i'll just have to wait till this weekend and see for myself whether i think it's a case of smith being spent or it's also a case of our line being ineffective. it'll be interesting to see if Dallas will stack the D against the run which is my understanding of what Washington did. or am i misinterpreting?

unless Bates is also spent, i like him over smith returning kickoffs. Bates always seemed to put us in good position after a kickoff and rarely put the ball on the ground. smith would make some great runs but he also often left us with poor field position. plus he puts the ball on the ground a lot. for some reason, i'm thinking i like smith over bates for returning punts. probably due to his quickness and wiggle has a better chance to break a punt than bates. actually, i don't remember. did bates return punts? seems like we had Poole or someone else back there. who returned punts against Washington?

am i wrong? is Moose not lining up on the left? or were the passes to him over the middle?

was very dissappointed to read that Montgomery showed nothing since i have been championing his ass. guess i just know how to pick 'em.

was also surprised to read that Witherspoon looked so strong. and of course about Fasani. can't wait to see him in action (hope they give him lots of snaps). god, could sandman have been right? one thing i never really saw in Weinke last year was passion. i'm sure it's there but it would be nice to see him get a little more fired up/pissed off from time to time. doesn't sound like that's a problem with Fasani.

 

IMO the O-Line had trouble getting holes open and holding them for Smith... and Smith IS slightly slowed due to his age and wear and tear... however Foster has the explosiveness to hit the holes faster... BEFORE they get closed up... that's why I think he'd end up starting... it not ALL Smith's fault he couldn't hit the holes because they disappeared so fast, but we'll need someone back there with the explosiveness to exploit a line that has trouble holding it open long.

 

Still, -3 yards rushing is unacceptable.

 

The real key for the OL will be how Foster runs with the first unit. If he struggles with the first team, due to lack of running room, then we can say more definitively. I do hope to watch the next game so I can comment more.
Bates has always struggled with fielding punts, I doubt we’ll see him there at all. And I don’t think it’s an either/or situation with Bates and Smith on kickoffs. It’s both.

 

I'm not familiar with with Dallas's front 4 vs. the run.

How do they stack up with the Foreskins?

On a side note, Darryl Gardener is a big ass.

 

Ellis and Ekuban are decent v/s the run. Glover is a penetrator and Noble isn't that good. On the other hand you'll probably see a lot of Michael Myers there as well...he's average.

So not only do you not have the size of Gardener or Wilkinson, you have a lot of small linebackers. Hardy's their only sizeable guy, Coakley their established playmaker. Their second unit looks good with Markus Steele and it'll be interesting to see if Keith Adams is at all worth a damn.

second string DBs suck ass. Tony Dixon isn't a slug but he does turn out to be a wasted pick since they got Roy Williams. I don't see Darren Woodson slowing down any time soon.

 

I agree with MVM.

The Cowboys Defense isnt as good as the Redskins by far. Ellis, Ekuban, Myers, and Noble are all fair to average players. They dont strike fear into any opposing QB's and thats why they went out and got Glover. There's a good player there, Im curious to see how he plays this year with a supporting cast that is well not up to the level as the Saints. But, after-all it wont be the 1st string that is left out to long it will be the 2nd and 3rd. I think that our backups are much better than theirs. They also have a subpar secondary and our LB's are better. Im gonna have to say that if we dont win this game it will be a major letdown. We need to win this game...we all fired up from the Skins game but the fact remains that we need a win to get people excited again about football!

 

One of the reasons the Saints let Glover go was because he wan't quite stout enough vs the run. He's a pure up field player. We can over power them that way.

Their linebackres are good, but Hardy's knee has yet to be tested. And their corners suck almost as much as ours.